Chronicling civil-service life for California state workers

July 25, 2008

Terry Halleck, The Golden 1 credit union's president and CEO told The State Worker this morning her company has finalized the plans for a two-tier "budget loan" program should Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cut state employee wages to the federal minimum $6.55.

The program would work like this:

Members who had direct deposit with the credit union as of June 30 would be eligible for a zero-interest loan.

Existing embers who sign up for direct deposit after June 30 would qualify for a loan at 4.99 percent.

Both programs would only be available to state employees who were members of The Golden One as of June 30.

Don't rush down to your local branch. The loans are contingent on the governor's wage cuts. "We won't have people sign loan documents until that happens," Halleck said. "It all depends on how (the budget talks) play out."

The Golden 1, which counts 100,000 state workers among its 680,000 members, has already been fielding calls from workers. If it needs to crank up the loan program, Halleck said that the company would use its existing personnel contacts in state government to get out the word. "Making people aware of this won't be an issue," she said.

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About The State Worker

The Author

Jon Ortiz launched The State Worker blog and a companion column in 2008 to cover state government from the perspective of California government employees. Every day he filters the news through a single question: "What does this mean for state workers?" Join Ortiz for updates and debate on state pay, benefits, pensions, contracts and jobs. Contact him at (916) 321-1043 and at jortiz@sacbee.com.

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